Backup
by Red Tigress
Summary: Movie-verse, Tony-centric, but team fic. Tony quits over a misunderstanding. Smidgeon Pepperony later. Rated for language and violence.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Welp, hello again. I'm going to try and get all my stuff published before I see the movie and stuff CHANGES. I'm also not being lazy, the movie hasn't come out in the US yet. Damn you all with your advanced screenings and living in other countries and stuff! So if you've seen it, please don't leave spoilers in the reviews. Also I'd love if you'd review. Heeeeheeeee. Or I may punch you with my newly acquired Hulk hands. They're actually quite comfortable to lean on. The other thing I might do is hit you back with Game of Thrones spoilers in return. Cause I've read alllllllllll the books. Twice. And I hold that other people's heads._

Tony nimbly ducked under the giant claw of what he had dubbed as the "Cloverfield" monster. It had shown up about twenty five minutes prior on the Jersey side of the river, with a few A.I.M. members in tow who seemed to have as much fear of it as the Avengers had. The best SHIELD could figure, was that it was some sort of exponentially growing monster. The only good news is, it wasn't growing anymore, but not before it had reached the size of a three-story building.

The Hulk was currently hanging around the monster's neck like he was riding a carnival pony from hell while Hawkeye was trying to stick the thing's face full of arrows. Some sort of dark blue ooze they could only assume was blood ran from the eyes. It definitely couldn't see anymore; Steve and Natasha ran around its legs unnoticed, trying to find more weak spots in its joints. Thor was throwing his hammer into the thing's jaw, and the force would make its head snap back, but the hammer itself didn't seem to be making a dent in the thing's armor. And even though Hawkeye had essentially blinded it, it wasn't slowing down at all.

It roared as Steve's shield embedded itself in its leg joint. Tony flew up, cocking his arm back and letting out an "Alley oop!" as he punched the shield further into the thing's knee. The shield went deeper, but didn't sever the joint as the beast whipped around, flailing its good leg. Tony flew to the side.

"I'm going to need that back!" Steve shouted up at him as he and Natasha dodged another flailing leg.

Tony sighed heavily enough into his comm that they all heard it. "Fine, fine. Jeez, try and help a guy out." He flew towards the shield and grabbed the edge, trying to yank it out. The monster was distracted enough by Hulk punching it in the spine and Thor continuing to beat its face in with the hammer that it didn't notice him. Tony ripped it out, blue blood spraying his suit right as Thor hit the monster in the jawbone with a particularly savage blow, making it whip around.

Tony, his hands full of shield, couldn't use his stabilizers and angle himself out of the path of the tail fast enough. The tail barreled into him and he was hurled backwards, landing on the ground with an _"oof!"_

"My apologies," Thor mumbled over his comm.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked.

"Wonderful," Tony growled back, more irritated than hurt. He got up off the ground, hurling the shield back at Steve who caught it deftly.

Tony was about to power up his thrusters and rejoin the fight, when Jarvis piped up.

"_Sir, there are a number of Advanced Idea Mechanics agents headed suspiciously towards a building towards the Northeast I thought you might like to know about."_

"Oh really, and why's that?" Tony didn't question how Jarvis knew suspicious behavior versus regular villain behavior. He'd built him that way.

"_Because they are carrying a large container giving off a similar bio-signature as the beast you are currently engaged against._"

"Oh." Tony should have known Jarvis would have a good answer. He'd programmed him, after all. "We got trouble, guys."

"What fucking clued you in?" Clint demanded over the comm.

"Pipe down, Bird Ass, I'm not talking to you. There's a group of A.I.M. agents headed towards a building over there. I'm gonna go say a quick hello."

"Negative, Iron Man," Steve was quick to interject. "We need you here. Widow can get it."

Tony inwardly rolled his eyes. "You don't need me, you guys got this." As soon as he said it, the Hulk went sailing over his head with a roar, much farther than Tony had gone. Tony looked at Cloverfield, and saw its eyes, which before had been a milky blue hue were turning back to the original white they had started as. It seemed to have regenerative capabilities. Awesome.

"No, Tony. That's an order! We need you here!"

"I got it," Natasha confirmed, and he could see her running towards the building.

Shit, she would die if she went up alone against those guys, whatever advanced weaponry they had, AND Cloverfield's little brother. He couldn't let that happen, and he couldn't let that thing loose.

"I'm not arguing," he said, firing up his thrusters. "Stay here, I'm taking care of it." He flew off towards the building, far faster than Natasha could ever hope to achieve on her feet.

Natasha looked towards Steve, irritation clear on both their faces. The Hulk roared again from the woods, before making a leap in about an eighty-foot arc to punch the monster savagely in the leg. It howled. Steve turned his attention back towards Natasha. "I'm going after him, stay here."

She nodded once, before running back towards the monster.

Steve saw where Tony had crashed through a window on the first floor, and jumped through the hole as well. Tony was never good at following orders, sure, but maybe the man really would need backup. He could be a bit reckless, and as long as Thor and Hulk were on the monster with Clint continually picking its eyes off, they could handle it. Though they'd run out of energy soon, they all would. Steve intended to help Tony dispatch of the A.I.M. agents as quickly as possible, so they could get back to firing all their guns at the monster. He'd lecture Tony later.

He came into a large, two story room that Iron Man was standing stock still in. "Tony!" he shouted, letting his anger have more influence over his tone than he would have preferred.

Iron Man whirled around. "Shit, Rogers, what are you doing here? I said I had it!"

"What-"

He was cut off as a screeching noise sounded over his head, and the next thing he knew he was on his back, using his shield to fight off a smaller version of the monster he had just left behind. Its teeth made pinging noises as it tried to chomp through his shield, but he heard the whine of a repulsor, and then the thing was being blasted through the air. Steve quickly rolled over, getting to his feet in time to see the smaller monster scurry up the wall like an insect. It was still about the size of a horse, but had two additional legs that dug into the concrete with frightening power.

"Holy crimeny!"

"Holy shit, your mouth," Tony mumbled, firing another repulsor. The creature moved with a sickening speed, before skittering to the roof again. The whine of Tony's repulsor charging sounded again, but the creature grabbed the ceiling with its too-wide mouth, and dug all its legs in. Steve could see the middle of it where its stomach might be pulsing far too rapidly to be breathing. He realized they might be in trouble when it began to glow red from the _inside_, made brighter by its eerily translucent skin.

As soon as he had finished the thought, Tony's voice screamed frantically in his ear; "Run, RUN!"

He tried, but the creature exploded, bringing six stories of building down on the unfortunate pair. Steve tried to cover his head with his shield, tried to find Tony, but huge blocks of concrete were raining down around them and he couldn't dodge. Pain erupted in his head and then all he knew was black.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV**_

Steve was aware of voices. Their angry tones echoed around a small space, sounding muffled.

"It doesn't _matter_ the thing died on its own, you shouldn't have left in the first place!"

_Barton,_ Steve's mind supplied tiredly, his thoughts too muddled to care.

"I'm not under SHIELD's employ, I don't have to take orders."

"Bullshit, Stark. You know fucking well you can't do whatever the fuck you want to, _especially_ when our team leader's angry enough at you to go chasing after you into a situation where you _both_ could have been killed."

_Barton sounds pretty angry,_ Steve's only semi-present brain thought.

"I only have a broken leg, and he'll be awake in a day or too, the doctors said. We've had worse. The man survived for 70 years under an ice cap."

To Steve's addled brain, Tony sounded tired too. Like he had already had this conversation.

"THIS ISN'T ABOUT HIM!" Clint shouted, all patience gone. "It's about YOU! You're worse than useless if you're gonna pull stunts like today! You're a fucking catastrophe waiting to happen, and you're gonna sink this whole team with you!"

_Was that true?_ Steve fought to remember, fought to gain consciousness.

"Get out," Tony replied so quietly, Steve barely heard. Footsteps sounded, followed by a door slamming, and Steve felt himself falling back into a blissful, total darkness.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV**_

Steve came to full awareness slowly. He blinked, taking in the bright lights of the helicarrier's infirmary, all too aware of his throbbing headache. The feel of worn cotton surrounded him, and he glanced down at his chest to see a ratty gray sweatshirt with a SHIELD emblem. He turned to look towards the left, noting the empty bed with the sheets made up. He had a vague recollection that someone should be there.

He turned the other direction, and saw Bruce typing away on a laptop in a plastic chair against the wall.

"Bruce," he mumbled, not at all surprised at how scratchy his voice sounded.

The other man looked up, smiling gently at him. "Hey. Welcome back."

"Thanks," Steve said, licking his lips. Bruce seemed to read his intentions and put his laptop on the seat next to him before moving over to Steve's bedside and taking a cup of water off the bedside table. Steve took it gently, the water easing his parched throat. "Thanks," he said again.

"No problem," Bruce said, placing the cup back on the table.

"How long?"

"About two days," Bruce replied nonchalantly as he sat down again. That surprised Steve. Usually they only stayed on the helicarrier for immediate or critical treatment before they were moved back to Stark Tower's makeshift infirmary where they were more comfortable. Come to think of it, it was sort of strange Bruce was here as well, and not in one of the building's labs that he had set up his equipment in.

He remembered bits and pieces of the conversation he had heard when he was drifting in and out of consciousness. "Is Stark okay?" he asked Bruce.

"He only has a broken tibia. He'll be fine." Bruce assured him without looking up.

"Where is he then?"

Here, Bruce hesitated, looking unsure of himself. His eyes flickered to Steve's, and his fingers stopped typing on the keyboard. "He's…gone."

Steve was confused. "What do you mean, 'gone'? He disappeared?" It wasn't unusual for Tony to take impromptu vacations after a mission, or excuse himself from the infirmary to lock himself in his lab after a hard one.

"Well, no, not exactly." Bruce's eyes flickered back to his computer screen, his voice telling Steve this was information he wasn't sure he should be the one to divulge.

"Bruce, tell me. Please," Steve added. He knew the doctor would always be honest with him when he asked for it.

"He quit, Steve. He went back to Malibu last night. He quit the team."

Steve's heart sank as the two men stared at each other for a moment. He knew Stark had always been finicky about being a team member, and about SHIELD, and about orders, but…

"That doesn't…why?"

Bruce sighed, gently closing the laptop. "Well, personally…I think it was one tenth you getting hurt, and nine tenths Fury, Barton and Natasha chewing him out. Oh, and Thor called him a coward to his face, but that was later."

"What?" Steve forced his heavy limbs to move, sitting upward in his bed. Bruce didn't make any move to stop him.

"Unfortunately, I couldn't really submit my opinion on the events, because…well, you know. I tried to get everyone to calm down so we could hear your side of the story when you woke up, but…I think Tony had had enough."

"I heard…I heard Clint say…the thing died on its own?" Steve asked, sitting still as he waited for the nausea to pass.

Bruce nodded. "Just collapsed. I've been studying its cell structure, and I think the DNA which allowed it to grow and heal so fast also sped up its metabolism at an exponential rate, causing it to just…drop dead."

"But it didn't explode."

Bruce narrowed his eyes with confusion at Steve. "…no…why?"

Steve let out a breath, slipping off the bed onto the cold, steel floor. "There was one inside. It was the same, but different. Nowhere near as big, and it could…explode. Which is why the building fell on us." He thought back to the conversation. Tony's adamant refusal to let Widow take out the A.I.M. agents, Tony's anger at seeing Steve in her place. "Somehow Stark knew what would be in there, and didn't want anyone else to come help him."

Bruce squinted his eyes at Steve in confusion.

"But…he didn't mention any of that. Not even when everyone was on his case. Why didn't he say anything?"

Steve's gut clenched and he made his way out of the infirmary, down the hall with Bruce in tow. "Because he shouldn't have to."

_**AV~AV~AV~AV**_

Steve and Bruce made their way up to the main deck of the helicarrier, which was bustling with SHIELD agents. They found Nick Fury in front of the main screens, looking pointedly down at the agents below him. They all seemed very tense as their boss studied their every move.

Steve had been striding briskly along, but when he got closer, he realized he was barefoot, wearing nothing but gray sweatpants and a sweatshirt, and sweating lighting from the first movements he had had in two days. He felt instantly underdressed. "Sir," he spoke up.

Fury turned his head sideways, regarding them both. "Captain Rogers," he drawled. "Good to see you up and about."

"Sir, I formally request we fly the helicarrier to California to pick up Tony Stark."

Fury eyed him for a moment more, before turning slowly back around to face out the window. "We will do no such thing."

"Then I formally request permission to take a quinjet to California to pick up Tony Stark."

"Denied."

"Sir," Steve said again, trying to keep the pleading edge out of his voice. "He's a member of our team, we can't just-"

"We _can't_ do anything," Fury said, turning back around to face him. "Stark is a private citizen. He has always had the option of leaving whenever he pleased. We can't make him stay."

"You're making _me_ stay," Bruce interjected. Fury shot him a withering look, which didn't seem to faze him in the slightest, before turning his attention back to Steve.

"Stark's done." Fury turned back around. "Let it go, Captain."

"With all due respect, Sir-"

"I said, let. It. Go." Fury's voice was low and dangerous. "Don't make me make that an order."

Steve swallowed thickly. "Yes, Sir."

"Is that all, Rogers?"

"…yes, Sir."

"I suggest you go get some more bed rest. You may have super healing powers, but you still took a nasty hit to the head."

And just like that, Steve was dismissed. He turned and walked quickly away, not wanting Fury to see the look of resentment on his face. Bruce followed behind him.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV**_

When Tony had come back without telling her in advance, Pepper wasn't surprised. He did that sort of thing all the time. He hobbled in on crutches, giving her a cocky grin before plopping down on a stool in the kitchen and beginning to make himself a drink.

"When do you have to be back?" she asked him.

He rattled the shaker in his hand before popping the lid and pouring it in his glass, not saying anything, but smiling slightly at her.

"Oh my god, they didn't kick you out, did they?" She caught the minute tightening at the corners of his eyes, the strained smile. Her breath caught in her throat. She had meant it as a joke, but she knew right then her casual comment had hit too close to home. "Tony-"

"I quit," he interrupted her, letting out a shallow, bitter laugh.

"You…quit? Can you…I mean…"

"Of course I can quit, I'm a private citizen. It was never supposed to be a permanent thing anyway." As quickly as it had appeared, the hurt look on his face vanished, and the smug, playful smile was back. "I have too many things to do here, anyway. I have a company to maintain, assets to protect…that sort of thing."

"Tony," she pleaded quietly. "What's going on?"

He was just finishing pouring a second drink for her, and he patted a bar stool next to himself. "You're gonna have to come over here if you want this, I can't carry it over AND use the crutches." She did so, reluctantly, regarding him the whole time. As soon as she got close, he wouldn't meet her eyes, staring instead at his glass as he swirled the contents around inside of it. She didn't touch hers.

"What happened?" She tried again, sliding onto the stool next to him and leaning on the bar.

He gave a quick exhale through his nose, smiling. "I broke my leg. That's what happened."

She gave him a dubious look. "You broke your leg so you quit the Avengers."

"Well…yes." He took a swallow of his drink before setting it back on the bar and grinning at her. "Pepper, you know how egotistical and eccentric I am. Why is this so surprising?"

"I think the last time you broke a limb with them, you stayed there and from what I heard Captain Rogers tell me later you started a NERF battle with Hawkeye?"

She saw Tony's jaw tighten before he looked away and took another drink. "Like I said, I have too much to do here," he mumbled stiffly. He tilted his head back, finishing his drink and leaving the glass on the bar before moving downstairs to the lab.

Something wasn't sitting right with her. She could tell Tony was hurt, but he wasn't about to say anything. "I wish you'd just talk to me," she whispered to the empty kitchen.


	2. Chapter 2

The workout space on the helicarrier was full of SHIELD agents working out, or chatting it up. Hardly anyone noticed him when he came in, but he searched all their faces anyway. It didn't take him long to see Barton bench pressing weights in a corner by himself, Thor nearby with his cape on the ground and running through a series of what looked to Steve like sword forms.

The other agents had given them both a wide birth. Steve still hadn't gotten used to their habits of casting glances at any Avengers team member every few seconds and then averting their gaze just as quickly. Steve made his way over to the pair briskly. Now people were beginning to notice Captain America was here, and the conversations seemed to simultaneously lower in volume and amplify in speed.

Barton saw him approaching and kept lifting. Thor easily fell out of the practice stance he was in, coming over to them, curious.

"Can I talk to you two?" Steve mumbled, aware of how the gazes on them seemed to have multiplied in the past minute.

"You're talking now," Clint grunted, continuing to lift. Steve inwardly sighed. He would have preferred not to do this in front of an audience.

"What did you guys say to Stark yesterday to make him leave?" Steve got right to the point.

A shadow crossed Thor's face as Barton continued to lift. "Nothing that was not true," Thor growled. "he put your lives in danger. If he would rather run from the consequences of his actions, then so be it. There is no room for cowardice here."

The weights clinked loudly as Clint dropped them back onto the supports and sat up. "And quite frankly," he breathed heavily. "I'm sick of his I'm-a-one-man show attitude. If he wants to be a one-man show, he can do that in LA without getting the rest of us killed." Barton snatched a towel angrily off the floor, draping it around his neck.

"That's not fair," Steve said quietly and dangerously. "Because I know you AND Thor have disobeyed orders. And, looking at your file, one could say you do it on quite a regular basis. And if Thor had a longer file, I'm sure yours would look similar." Steve hadn't wanted to bring up that he had access to Barton's personnel files. It always rubbed the archer the wrong way, knowing people could read about him, but Steve wanted Barton to know none of them were exempt.

"Even I've had authority issues and have disobeyed orders. Do you think Stark's an idiot? That he was slinking off into a building on his own to quietly deal with some guys in suits? That he didn't want Natasha or me to go in there because he'd rather hand to hand fight some A.I.M. scientists for his own personal gratification and pleasure?"

Thor and Clint glanced at each other, both of the certainty in their eyes beginning to chip away. The room was almost entirely silent now except for murmured conversations under everyone's breaths. "There was another one of those things in there. He didn't want anyone else to get hurt. Yeah, he probably should have said something beforehand, but the point is afterwards, he shouldn't have had to defend himself. Not to us." He took a huge, calming breath, before lowering his voice. "Clint…I heard what you said to him." Clint's eyes widened slightly. "If anyone else had said that to you, in the same position, you would have left in a heartbeat." Clint's eyes dropped slightly to the ground and he gave a very small nod. Steve turned to Thor. "Thor…how dare you call him a coward. Not after your brother. Not after everything he did then, or continues to do."

Thor's eyes softened and he gave an apologetic look to Steve. "I…I let my temper get the better of me," he admitted. "I am sorry."

"Yeah," Barton spoke up. "Me too."

"It's not me you should be apologizing to," Steve said, before turning around. The SHIELD agents parted as he made his way towards the door.

He was about to open it when he heard a mumbled, "I always knew Stark would be the first one to flake out."

Steve whirled around, instantly finding the surprised face of the SHIELD agent that spoke. He moved so his face was inches from the other man, and stared him down angrily. When he spoke, his voice was barely above a murmur. "You don't get to say that. Not ever." The other agent gave a shaky nod, and Steve was gone.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV**_

Steve shortly found himself on the bridge of the helicarrier. He knew Hawkeye and Thor had been upset. If he had been conscious, he probably would have felt the same way. But after everything they had been through he was disappointed they had lost their tempers so easily.

Nick Fury was staring at something on a monitor, Maria Hill standing over his shoulder. She turned around as he approached, giving him a neutral stare. "Captain."

"You wanted to see me?"

Fury turned his head slightly so he could view him with one eye. "Yes. Banner and some of our more highly-paid scientists have been studying the cell structure of the creature you fought the other day." He turned fully around, standing up, and then moving to the side so Steve could see the screen where there was a diagram of the monster.

"It appears he was right about the exponentially growing cells. However, this was only a prototype."

"Sir?" Steve asked hesitantly.

"There was something else. Nanite tech, attached to the brain cells, programmed to destroy technology. Like the tech in the SHIELD warehouse a quarter mile from where you fought the thing."

"How…do you know this?"

Fury's gaze traveled from Hill back to Steve. "Stark. He's found A.I.M. activity in his company. He thinks they may be planning to go after his labs in L.A. as well."

Steve was confused. He'd called Pepper Potts about six times in two days, trying to get a hold of Stark. Each time she had said apologetically he was unavailable. "Why would he tell us?"

"He wouldn't. Agent Romanoff has returned to her old job at Stark Industries."

"Sir?" This time is was Hill who spoke up, sounding annoyed. It seemed she hadn't been privy to this information either.

Steve gave a slight smirk.

"Unfortunately," Fury said. "Since Stark is a private citizen, and the breech is on private property, and he has _specifically_ told us not to interfere, SHEILD can't make an appearance. However, we do have an agent in distress on the premises, requiring our involvement."

"Sir," Hill said, her tone warning. He ignored her.

"Do you understand my meaning, Captain?"

"Yes Sir!"

"Then take your team and get out of my sight."

Steve grinned, going to round up the team.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV**_

Pepper hurried down to the lab quickly, after Jarvis had informed her Tony was doing something very foolish. And if Jarvis thought it was foolish enough to tell her, well…

She put her hand on the access pad, and it flashed blue, allowing her inside. Tony was sitting on the floor, Dum-e cooing anxiously over him. He had a small dremmel plugged into the wall and was starting to saw through the cast on his leg.

"What are you _doing?"_ she gasped.

Both he and Dum-e looked up at her, pausing.

"You're not taking that off!" She shouted indignantly.

"Well, uh, no, I'm _sawing_ it off," he explained.

"No. Nuh-uh. Why would you do that, it doesn't even make sense other than to satisfy your masochistic tendencies-"

"Well I can't fit in the suit when I'm wearing it-"

"WHY would you want to get into the suit with a broken, uncasted leg-"

"The company's in trouble-"

"And you need the SUITE to save it as opposed to the overpriced security guards we already have SWARMING the complex-"

"Oh yeah, get them out of there, they're not gonna be able to handle this-"

"Tony, WHAT are you talking about?" She reached down to take the dremmel out of his hand and he held it out of her reach.

"Ah ah ah!"

"Tony, what-"

He interrupted her by leaning forward and pressing his lips firmly against hers. She blinked rapidly, giving a very unromantic "oomf!" before he pulled back slowly, smiling at her gently.

"There's something I gotta take care of."

She put her hand on his face gently. "I don't understand," she said, sinking to her knees on the floor beside him. "Why can't you call SHIELD? Or Steve…he's been trying to get a hold of you all day."

Tony looked away, and she let go. He continued sawing away, wincing as the movement jolted his leg. "I can't."

"Then call Rhodey then! Tony, please! Don't do this to yourself."

"There's no one else. Rhodey didn't ask for this. Besides, he's on assignment. It's my responsibility. No one else _asked_ for this." He finished sawing through the cast, and it popped open with a crack. He sucked in a breath and cringed as he wrenched it off his leg. He reached up, grabbing onto Dum-e's arm and pulling himself to his good foot with a wince.

"You didn't ask for this either!" She insisted as he and the robot moved over to the armor platform. The robots moved slowly, JARVIS doing his best not to hurt Tony with quick movements. But as soon as the boot went on his bad leg, he cried out in pain, and Pepper let out a small squeak of dismay. Suddenly, Pepper became very angry. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair he did this to himself. There was no need for it. He had friends now, a whole government organization as his backup. And yet, call it what you would, be it masochism, a sense of obligation, or that he was just punishing himself, for _everything_…

It broke her heart. And made her furious.

"Tony Stark, get DOWN here! This is the most idiotic…stupidest idea…and I won't stand for it!"

The faceplate closed as Tony looked at her with a sad smile, and Iron Man's eyes lit up. "Can't. Sorry. Don't worry, I shouldn't be too long." Before she could say anything else, the boots fired up. Even though she couldn't hear him anymore, at that point she saw the thruster under his broken leg lower power considerably, and with a sloppy salute, he flew out the garage.

She hurried back upstairs, snatching up her phone from where she had left it on the coffee table in the den. She hit her contacts, pulling up her last answered call number.

"Steve? It's Pepper. He just left. He's going to hurt himself. He sawed off his cast and he left! He left…"

She sagged down onto the couch holding her head in her hand.


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Thanks very, very, very much for the continued interest in my work. Sorry if I thanked you on reviews twice, I got confused as to which fics I thanked and which ones I didn't. So thanks again! Also thanks to everyone who fav'd and alerted. I got some post-movie stuff in the works as well, and hopefully I'll finish up the Shield story this week as well. I saw Avengers for the third time in 4 days today. _

If Tony had wanted to be honest with himself, yeah, the flight over to Stark Industries had hurt. _A lot._ Turns out almost-faster-than-speed travel was hell on a broken leg with internal dampeners and armor and all sorts of things. When he landed in front of the building, he had sort of had to do this thing where he wobbled around in midair before falling to the pavement on his good knee and hands. He had been rather proud of himself for managing it, when he noticed a smug Natasha in full uniform already inside, watching him from behind the glass door. She gave him a sarcastic thumbs-up.

He quickly got to his feet, doing his best not to limp on his bad leg. The armor sort of acted as a cast, keeping his leg straight, but it still hurt. The doors opened for him automatically, a built in feature of the building when it recognized his armor.

"You practicing to be Iron Man someday, Junior?" Natasha asked, arms crossed across her chest.

Tony ignored her. "What are you doing here? How did you get in?"

She rolled her eyes. "You may have been too busy sulking, but I work here again."

That hurt more than he cared to admit, coming from her, a teammate. _No_, he amended, _a former teammate. _"I hired you?"

"No, Pepper did."

"Well, in that case, you're fired." Tony walked past her into the main complex.

"You don't have the authority to do that." She followed him. Tony was quickly becoming exasperated. He hated how he could never get this woman out of his offices.

He sighed. "Why are you here again?"

"Because you have a mole in your company."

"Yeah, you," he bit out, more harshly than he had intended.

"An A.I.M. mole. I know they broke in here, with one of the creatures they had back East. And Tony."

He stopped and turned minutely, taking in her face over his shoulder. "I know what really happened. With Steve." He turned back around not bothering to answer.

Suddenly, Natasha became angry, jogging in front of him and putting her fist against his arc reactor. He didn't move, just stared down with the Iron mask that Natasha now knew reflected the actual anger and pain in his heart. "Look, everyone's sorry about what happened. What we said. I'm sorry. We should have trusted you."

"Natasha-"

"But YOU need to understand something too. You need to trust US. We're not taking the day off because the bad guy has an electric tentacle for a sidearm instead of a nine mil. We don't work as hard as we do to let you take all the hits from the giant, fire breathing mutant wolf thing. Let us do our jobs, Tony, whether it's being your backup, or protecting New York from the goddamn Stay Puft marshmellow man."

They stood there a moment, she breathing hard, her fist still on his chest, her eyes burning with murderous, but honest, intent.

Finally, his masked popped up, exposing his face, and she knew she had gotten through.

"Did you just make a Ghostbusters reference?" He grinned cheekily.

"So what if I did?" she snarled.

"I just…I guess I didn't realize you watched movies."

She rolled her eyes, before taking her hand away from his armor. "So…do we have an understanding?"

His mask popped back down. "Yeah, sure…I just…you sure everyone _else _wants…" he trailed off.

"Please," she huffed, turning around and unholstering her gun. "They were as sad to see you leave as you were to go."

"I wasn't sad," Tony insisted, secretly glad to hear that someone had actually missed him. It was still a feeling that was foreign to him. Not missing him for his money, or because he was good at building WMDs, or because they actually needed a CEO present to hold board meetings. It made him feel…valuable.

"I do talk to Pepper on a regular basis you know."

Oh.

Changing the subject, Tony tapped into the Stark Industries security feeds. The list of employees who had entered and exited the building for the past two hours was small. "Hmm…being lower down on the corporate ladder than I am, do you have any familiarity with a Chuck Bryant at all?"

"You do realize I work in the office, right?"

"Didn't stop you from hacking everything in sight," he grumbled. "Anyways, he entered the building through the sub-level doors about forty minutes ago. It being 10:55 at night, that seem a little strange to you?"

"Only if you don't keep _our_ hours."

They moved together to the sublevels, on high alert. Tony moved slowly, every step jarring his leg. The boot was doing a decent job of keeping his leg straight and supported, but it was still too early to be putting weight on it.

They made their way to the sublevels of the facility, the sound of Iron Man's footsteps echoing loudly against the steel stairways. They soon made their way into a large, cavernous room, the walls painted bright, laboratory white and lit only at this hour by harsh, florescent lights. Scattered around the room were various computers, taking readings. The air shimmered slightly around some stations, and when Natasha turned her head towards another station, she found her gaze…sliding off of it against her will. Unnerved, she focused on Iron Man's back.

"What do you-"

She was cut off as a yellow blur barreled into Iron Man from the side and they crashed into a computer array.

Tony fired his repulsors into the thing attacking him, hearing it give a screech before it stumbled off. From what he could tell, it was like the things before, but it had more legs. Far, far too many legs. "Trace it," he told Jarvis. A yellow ring appeared on his HUD, and he pulled himself to his feet as he followed it around the room.

"You okay?" Natasha called out.

"Yeah," he said pulling himself up out of the wreckage that was probably thousands of dollars' worth of equipment. "Careful, it's fast. Duck."

She did, and a shoulder panel opened on his armor, letting out about 10 tiny little missiles up into the darkness of the ceiling. There were explosions of light, and she raised her gun as the…giant centipede thing gave another screech. She fired, but it nimbly dodged the bullets before letting go of the ceiling and launching itself at her.

She took two steps and dove. "Shoot!" he did, and it screeched loudly before slithering out of sight again. His head moved to track it. "It seems to be…somewhat immune to you," she hissed.

"Yeah," he said uncertainly. "Of course, I don't share the armor tech secrets with the company."

Of course he didn't. He was far too paranoid for that.

"I hope you have more of those lasers, then." She trained her gun in the direction that he was looking.

"Well, sure, but-SHIT." He raised his arms as the thing dropped from the ceiling oh him with a screech. There was a shower of sparks as the repulsors went off, but this time the monster just powered through, latching a huge maw filled with black, pointy teeth onto his helmet. Legs clamped down on his arms, holding them against the ground.

Natasha leapt at the monster firing bullets into its back. She was in mid-air when the thing maneuvered its tail. She saw it coming, but without a surface to push off of, she couldn't dodge. Its tail slammed into her stomach and she went down, gasping.

Tony's HUD was flashing red and his helmet was slowly being crushed inwards. He winced as he felt the sharp tip of a fang begin to penetrate through the metal and into his temple. He couldn't get his arms up to hit it with the repulsors or laser, and he had already fired his shoulder missiles.

"Gah…divert power to chest beam!" He felt the rumbling in his chest as he lost power in his arms and legs.

Jarvis' voice sounded in his ear. _"Firing."_

Tony's head snapped back as the monster abruptly let go, before maneuvering so it was hovering over the arc reactor. Quicker than Tony could follow, it opened its jaws and snapped its mouth down. Tony jerked, but luckily the fangs hadn't penetrated the armor deep enough to reach him. "Smile," he growled.

The chest beam went off, pushing Tony's back against the floor and simultaneously lighting up the beast from the inside out. Tony grinned wider before he realized something was wrong.

The thing was _swallowing_ the blast.

_Shit_. How could he forget.

The things were made to _eat_ technology. Ohhhhh, he was fucked.

He heard gunshots, but they didn't seem to have any effect on the thing. It swished its tail again, and he heard her cry out. "Romanoff!"

The beast let go of his chest and crunched back down on his helmet. He grunted as he felt the edges getting closer, could feel the seams starting to give.

"_Warning. Power levels at 40%. Warning."_

"Helpful, thanks!" His arms weren't as powerful as before, and there wasn't enough energy to use the chest beam again, not that it would be helpful. He heard and felt the metal crunch inward again, and felt a fang scratch over his cheek, followed by a warm sensation. Oh god, this was it. Death by centipede Cloverfield monster. He was still trying to calculate his available options, knowing there wasn't enough time but trying to do it anyway, when there was a metal _clang_ and thing let go, sliding off him.

Tony gasped, rolling over to his good knee and looking up.

Standing there, in _his_ facility, was Captain America, catching his returning shield. Standing to either side of him were Hawkeye, Thor, and Bruce Banner, eyes already glowing green.

Tony felt a little choked up. He honestly did.

"How the hell did you guys get in here?"

"What the…you ungrateful ass!" Barton shouted. But Tony knew this time, it wasn't malicious.

Thor smiled. "We are glad to see you too, friend. And we'd like-"

Natasha stood up, coughing a few times, cutting him off. "Apologies later. Monster, now."

"Bruce?" Steve turned, grinning.

But Bruce wasn't Bruce anymore. With a savage roar, he pulled the tattered remains of his shirt off, and leapt on top of the monster. Thor followed suit, and Hawkeye ran to Natasha, helping her up.

Steve ran to Tony, picking him up. Tony bit off a cry of pain from his leg, but let himself be manhandled out of the way. "You didn't need to come," he grumbled.

"We're a team. Of course we did."

And like he had never left, they were assembled.

Steve left Tony standing there on a busted leg, and leapt into the fray. Hulk swung the monster into Steve's shield and as it screamed in pain, Thor came down on its tail with his hammer. Tony heard a _twang_ shortly before an arrow embedded itself into the thing's eye.

But it wasn't slowing down.

"_Sir, my readings indicate the beast is gaining mass,_" Jarvis informed him calmly. But Tony could hear that note of worry in his voice, the one Jarvis had programmed in himself.

"Right," Tony mumbled. He watched with alarm as the thing sunk its teeth into the Hulk's arm who gave a roar of rage and swung around trying to get it off. His movements made him slam into Thor, who went flying through the ceiling as Steve dove out of the way.

"Thor!" Tony stepped forward but almost collapsed again from the pain in his leg.

"Stark, stop!" Natasha limped over to him, followed by Hawkeye. "You've done enough."

"They're not gonna get through that thing, it's armor's too strong," Tony huffed.

"What do you suggest?" Clint snapped, firing an arrow right as the Hulk tore the beast off his arm and let fly. Tony looked around, and saw Thor's hand gripping the edge of the hole in the ceiling.

"THOR! Stay there!"

The Asgardian's head poked up curiously from the edge, followed by the rest of his body.

"When I say, light me up!"

Thor grinned savagely. "It would be my pleasure!"

He turned his head towards the SHIELD agents. "You guys should probably stand about 20 feet away." Natasha just peered at him curiously, but Clint grabbed her wrist and they lopped off together for cover. "Steve, I need you to move. Try and get Hulk to as well. I'd rather not fry him."

The thrown monster was flopping like a fish, trying to right itself. Hulk took one menacing step towards it, but Steve grabbed his wrist. Tony for a moment though Steve was about to become a blue pancake, but after a second, Steve was running out of the way, the Hulk begrudgingly following.

"Divert all power to chest beam," Tony Told Jarvis. The HUD faded slightly as the AI complied. "Hawkeye, on my mark, shoot it between the armor plates on its…well, where it's neck would be. Thor, let's get Thunderstruck."

There was a boom, and Tony prepared himself, but it was always a bit of a shock, he supposed he could say, when the lightning hit him. The HUD flashed crazily, and Tony winced as he felt himself being pushed back a few steps from the sheer force of it. The armor tingled around him for a moment.

"_Power levels at 400%, 90% of power diverted to chest beam."_

"Mark."

Tony used his thrusters to propel him the last few feet to the monster which had righted itself as the arrow embedded itself between the plates. The small opening was a enough to get a few fingers in, and he pulled it apart as the armor shook from the high power levels.

The plates came free right as the chest beam went off, and the sheer amount of force being released felt like someone was punching _him_ in the chest.

The thing exploded as Tony toppled backwards, suit nearly depleted, leg screaming in pain and his chest aching. But the beast was a pile of cat food now, and he sighed happily as he lay on his back and popped the face mask up.

Steve's concerned visage was the first in view, and Tony giggled up at him. "We can go home now, right? I'll call someone to clean this up. Hey, how'd you guys like to stay at my place in Malibu? That'll be fun right?"

Thor gripped his hand, pulling him upright and Tony winced. "I do not know what a Malibu is."

"How about a hospital, first?" Steve grinned.

_**AV~AV~AV~AV**_

They all ended up crashing (in Banner's case, literal crashing as he always fell into unconsciousness after a Hulk-out) at Tony's house with him and Pepper for four days. Fury had called once, but for the most part left them alone, for which Tony was grateful.

Thor especially liked the swimming pool, though none of Tony's trunks fit him. Everyone found a reason to be inside when he was in it.

Steve had made sure SHIELD was on top of the A.I.M. situation. But four SWAT teams and a destroyed base later, Fury had assured them there would be no more Technovores, as the monsters had been dubbed. Steve hoped SHIELD wasn't hiding away stolen technology anymore, but he was sure Tony and Jarvis would make sure of it later.

Both Thor and Clint had come up to Tony separately to apologize, Clint only saying it in a few words, which Tony hastily shot down. The man's face oozed guilt, and Tony, knowing the feeling, couldn't stay upset.

Thor had come in with flowery words and enough self-deprecation that it was giving _Tony_ a headache. Tony had finally just opened a bottle of good wine as they sat on his porch drinking together and Thor telling him warrior tales of Asgard.

All in all, it was a good vacation.


End file.
